1926
1926 O'KEEFFE
1
masterpiece
Black Iris
Metropolitan Museum
In 1923 Georgia O'Keeffe famously shocked her avant-gardist surrounding with the audacity of her oversized paintings of views inside flowers.
Black Iris III, oil on canvas 91 x 76 cm painted in 1926, is an early example. The curves and depths of the petals and their gradual shift of color from flesh to black are nearly zoomorphic and invite for an interpretation as a female human sex.
The artist nevertheless denied such titillating connotations,. She was considering with no nonsense that her feat had been to make her hand on the flower when it was just blooming as it was so available only two weeks per spring. She provided an unprecedented representation of the natural beauty.
O'Keeffe's husband Alfred Stieglitz considered that specific example as "the greatest picture in the world". This masterpiece is currently owned by the Met Museum.
Black Iris III, oil on canvas 91 x 76 cm painted in 1926, is an early example. The curves and depths of the petals and their gradual shift of color from flesh to black are nearly zoomorphic and invite for an interpretation as a female human sex.
The artist nevertheless denied such titillating connotations,. She was considering with no nonsense that her feat had been to make her hand on the flower when it was just blooming as it was so available only two weeks per spring. She provided an unprecedented representation of the natural beauty.
O'Keeffe's husband Alfred Stieglitz considered that specific example as "the greatest picture in the world". This masterpiece is currently owned by the Met Museum.
2
A Street
2018 SOLD for $ 13.3M by Sotheby's
In 1925 Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe move to the 30th floor of a brand new skyscraper in Manhattan. After some reticence about this unprecedented lifestyle, Georgia is captivated and begins to paint city views.
On November 14, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 13.3M A Street, oil on canvas 127 x 76 cm painted in 1926, lot 34.
With its sequences of skyscrapers on both sides of the street, this composition is almost symmetrical, like the 1922 reflection at Lake George. The walls are geometric, plain without windows, with a pleasant variation of pastel shades,
The roadway is not visible but the curved top of a street light shows that it is not far below. This tiny element judiciously centered on the lower edge becomes an anchor point from which the gaze can make an incessant back and forth through the central breach of the sky.
In the same year Georgia's close-ups of flowers caused a sensation in New York's artistic circles by their possible interpretation as female organs. Georgia, cautiously, will comment little. Stieglitz who usually supported new trends is reluctant by the masculinity of his wife's cityscapes. Indeed if he flipped A Street up and down, he may have seen an opened pair of legs.
On November 14, 2018, Sotheby's sold for $ 13.3M A Street, oil on canvas 127 x 76 cm painted in 1926, lot 34.
With its sequences of skyscrapers on both sides of the street, this composition is almost symmetrical, like the 1922 reflection at Lake George. The walls are geometric, plain without windows, with a pleasant variation of pastel shades,
The roadway is not visible but the curved top of a street light shows that it is not far below. This tiny element judiciously centered on the lower edge becomes an anchor point from which the gaze can make an incessant back and forth through the central breach of the sky.
In the same year Georgia's close-ups of flowers caused a sensation in New York's artistic circles by their possible interpretation as female organs. Georgia, cautiously, will comment little. Stieglitz who usually supported new trends is reluctant by the masculinity of his wife's cityscapes. Indeed if he flipped A Street up and down, he may have seen an opened pair of legs.
1926 Chagall shares the Circus
2013 SOLD 13 M$ including premium
Marc Chagall only listens to his fancy, and gives the impression of ignoring the harsh constraints of his time. He cannot be attached to any school. He is a rare example of a hypersensitive and empathetic artist who shares his wonderful feelings. The closest example in the history of modern art is perhaps the "Douanier" Rousseau.
But nothing is easy. Chagall had its first success in Paris, but he was blocked in Russia by the revolution. When he is back in Paris in 1923 many things have changed. His friends have not forgotten his poetic processing of colors. In addition, the Surrealists consider him as one of their precursors, a pioneer in dream art.
Events had dispersed the oil paintings and gouaches of Chagall. To maintain his reputation, he remade by memory his most significant pre-war works. He was strongly encouraged by Vollard with whom he developed some series of prints.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the new version of a lost painting.
The can-can dancing girl plays the lead, ready to twirl, and looking at us with a friendly smile. Farther, the two men are waiting their turn, peacefully. The colors are cheerful and the details include pleasant surprises such as the continuity of motifs between suit and stocking or the funny ghost animal installed on the shoulder of a man.
This painting is not surreal, it is simply a masterpiece of wonderful and candid art. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The freshness and humor of the theme pushed this painting up to $ 13M including premium. This was the nicest result of the sales of current week in New York.
But nothing is easy. Chagall had its first success in Paris, but he was blocked in Russia by the revolution. When he is back in Paris in 1923 many things have changed. His friends have not forgotten his poetic processing of colors. In addition, the Surrealists consider him as one of their precursors, a pioneer in dream art.
Events had dispersed the oil paintings and gouaches of Chagall. To maintain his reputation, he remade by memory his most significant pre-war works. He was strongly encouraged by Vollard with whom he developed some series of prints.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells Les Trois Acrobates. Painted in 1926, this oil on canvas 116 x 88 cm is the new version of a lost painting.
The can-can dancing girl plays the lead, ready to twirl, and looking at us with a friendly smile. Farther, the two men are waiting their turn, peacefully. The colors are cheerful and the details include pleasant surprises such as the continuity of motifs between suit and stocking or the funny ghost animal installed on the shoulder of a man.
This painting is not surreal, it is simply a masterpiece of wonderful and candid art. It is estimated $ 6M.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The freshness and humor of the theme pushed this painting up to $ 13M including premium. This was the nicest result of the sales of current week in New York.
1926 MAGRITTE
1
1926 Le Groupe Silencieux
2018 SOLD for £ 7.2M by Christie's
In 1926 in Brussels the Galerie Le Centaure invites René Magritte to prepare paintings for his first solo exhibition to be held in April and May of the next year. The young artist builds his own surreal world where the main characters are bilboquets.
In this set of a wide variety Magritte questions the nature of the human being, often limited to several cut organs. He simplifies his drawing so that the objects are immediately recognizable, making their interactions even more bizarre. He transposes in an ordinary surrounding the irrational and antique-inspired stages by De Chirico.
On February 27 in London, Christie's sells Le Groupe silencieux, oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm painted in 1926 and exhibited in 1927, lot 107 estimated £ 6.5M.
The walls of the room are pink, the color of the female nude which also excites Magritte at that time. An almost complete humanoid silhouette is a thick cropped board. Three eyes are folded on the edges of a flesh-colored cube in an iconography that anticipates Dali's soft watches.
Art did not escape this grotesque setting with the image of a castle that dissolves in the curtain and a large landscape painting carelessly leaning against the wall on the left.
Visitors are not interested in his intentionally illogical vision of the world. In August 1927 Magritte joined the surrealist group in Paris where the audience was also reluctant. Returning to Brussels in 1930 he exploited through four decades his original idea of the incongruous relations between disparate objects.
In this set of a wide variety Magritte questions the nature of the human being, often limited to several cut organs. He simplifies his drawing so that the objects are immediately recognizable, making their interactions even more bizarre. He transposes in an ordinary surrounding the irrational and antique-inspired stages by De Chirico.
On February 27 in London, Christie's sells Le Groupe silencieux, oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm painted in 1926 and exhibited in 1927, lot 107 estimated £ 6.5M.
The walls of the room are pink, the color of the female nude which also excites Magritte at that time. An almost complete humanoid silhouette is a thick cropped board. Three eyes are folded on the edges of a flesh-colored cube in an iconography that anticipates Dali's soft watches.
Art did not escape this grotesque setting with the image of a castle that dissolves in the curtain and a large landscape painting carelessly leaning against the wall on the left.
Visitors are not interested in his intentionally illogical vision of the world. In August 1927 Magritte joined the surrealist group in Paris where the audience was also reluctant. Returning to Brussels in 1930 he exploited through four decades his original idea of the incongruous relations between disparate objects.
2
1926-1927 La Lumière du Pôle
2022 SOLD for £ 6M by Christie's
René Magritte based his whole career on the observation that the image of an object is not the real object. The consequence is that a landscape may be populated by surrealist elements and that the apparent textures and shapes may disturb the expectation of the viewer.
1926 was a prolific year, just before he joined the Parisian Surrealist circles.
The mountain range is used several times as a backdrop. The dreamlike dimension is sometimes brought by a single element.
For example in Les Signes du soir, oil on canvas 75 x 65 cm, the large frame is a trompe-l'oeil, leaving to the viewer to choose whether the tree is in the painting or elsewhere. This artwork was sold for £ 1.8M by Christie's on February 27, 2018.
In Le Toit du Monde, 65 x 75 cm, a violin stick is raised in the middle of the table. The stage is curled to imitate the folds of the mountain and its surface is holed like a cheese of Gruyere. It was sold for € 2.7M by Sotheby's on October 19, 2017.
In L'Esprit du voyageur, of same size, a tall bowling pin positioned inside a group of three porticoes admires the immensity of nature. The foreground of the mountain appears in space like a flat cardboard. It was sold for £ 460K by Christie's on February 9, 2011.
Painted in 1926-1927, La Lumière du Pôle is more ambitious with three elements spanning the whole foreground. A pair of bald women in the nude may be wax mannequins. Their integrity is conjured by the sheared edges featuring them as some mere paper shells with empty interiors. The third element is a standing dove that looks like the fur wrap of a vase. Its ante quem date is March 1927 when it was illustrated as Le Sommet du Pôle in a Brussels magazine.
La Lumière du Pôle, large size oil on canvas 139 x 105 cm, was sold for £ 6M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 102.
1926 was a prolific year, just before he joined the Parisian Surrealist circles.
The mountain range is used several times as a backdrop. The dreamlike dimension is sometimes brought by a single element.
For example in Les Signes du soir, oil on canvas 75 x 65 cm, the large frame is a trompe-l'oeil, leaving to the viewer to choose whether the tree is in the painting or elsewhere. This artwork was sold for £ 1.8M by Christie's on February 27, 2018.
In Le Toit du Monde, 65 x 75 cm, a violin stick is raised in the middle of the table. The stage is curled to imitate the folds of the mountain and its surface is holed like a cheese of Gruyere. It was sold for € 2.7M by Sotheby's on October 19, 2017.
In L'Esprit du voyageur, of same size, a tall bowling pin positioned inside a group of three porticoes admires the immensity of nature. The foreground of the mountain appears in space like a flat cardboard. It was sold for £ 460K by Christie's on February 9, 2011.
Painted in 1926-1927, La Lumière du Pôle is more ambitious with three elements spanning the whole foreground. A pair of bald women in the nude may be wax mannequins. Their integrity is conjured by the sheared edges featuring them as some mere paper shells with empty interiors. The third element is a standing dove that looks like the fur wrap of a vase. Its ante quem date is March 1927 when it was illustrated as Le Sommet du Pôle in a Brussels magazine.
La Lumière du Pôle, large size oil on canvas 139 x 105 cm, was sold for £ 6M by Christie's on March 1, 2022, lot 102.
1926 Komposition II with Red by Mondrian
2015 SOLD for $ 9.3M by Christie's
After joining van Doesburg, Piet Mondrian is the theoretician and soon the leader of the Neo-Plasticism, linked with the De Stijl movement. On the wake of Malevich's Suprematism, he starts a quest for purity through a total abstraction.
Three basic rules are published by Mondrian in 1926. The figure is only made of horizontal and vertical straight lines, with no curve and no oblique. In addition to the non-colors which are grey, black and white, only three pure colors are used : blue, red and yellow, in flat separated areas, never mingled. The composition must be balanced with no symmetry.
In his studio in Montparnasse, Mondrian manages to apply his own rules. His final goal is to define a new style of interior decoration, including furnishings, suited to modern conditions of life.
The path is narrow between art and a mere decoration. Also in 1926, Mondrian observes that his compositions have been too complex and must be reduced.
Komposition II with Red, oil on canvas 50 x 51 cm, is only featuring four lines and one color, in an area limited by a light grey line. This opus was sold for $ 9.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 11 A.
One of the vertical lines is adjacent to the right edge and interrupted. The single red fills an evanescent area in the bottom left corner, between the lower horizontal and the lower edge. The non-color is white. The escape to infinity is provided by the upper right white block and the very narrow blocks below the lower horizontal line.
Three basic rules are published by Mondrian in 1926. The figure is only made of horizontal and vertical straight lines, with no curve and no oblique. In addition to the non-colors which are grey, black and white, only three pure colors are used : blue, red and yellow, in flat separated areas, never mingled. The composition must be balanced with no symmetry.
In his studio in Montparnasse, Mondrian manages to apply his own rules. His final goal is to define a new style of interior decoration, including furnishings, suited to modern conditions of life.
The path is narrow between art and a mere decoration. Also in 1926, Mondrian observes that his compositions have been too complex and must be reduced.
Komposition II with Red, oil on canvas 50 x 51 cm, is only featuring four lines and one color, in an area limited by a light grey line. This opus was sold for $ 9.3M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 11 A.
One of the vertical lines is adjacent to the right edge and interrupted. The single red fills an evanescent area in the bottom left corner, between the lower horizontal and the lower edge. The non-color is white. The escape to infinity is provided by the upper right white block and the very narrow blocks below the lower horizontal line.
1926 The Timeless Mountain of Lawren Harris
2016 SOLD for $ 11.2M CAD including premium
Lawren Stewart Harris is a mystical hiker. Alone or in a group, he is looking in nature for the eternal truth. Canada offers him landscapes that are inviolable by humans. He explores the frozen shores of Lake Superior from 1921 and the Canadian Rockies from 1924.
He executes drawings that he will transfer into increasingly large oil paintings while eliminating any unnecessary detail, resulting in a symphony in blue and white. The white of snow and ice is for this theosopher an oracle of purity in communion with the blue sky.
1926 marks the accession to the maturity for this artist in his simplifying illumination. A small oil sketch 30 x 38 cm on board preparing his great composition of the Old Stump, Lake Superior, was sold for CAD 3.5 million including premium by Heffel on November 26, 2009.
In the same year the hiker is dazzled by the perfect triangle of Mount Ishbel between Banff and Lake Louise. He has found his Sphinx. Once isolated from the neighboring mountains, Ishbel displays a towering symmetry. The bottom-up view leads the eyes to the smooth colors of wood and rock before reaching the sparkling summit.
Harris named this view Mountain Form without locating it, so confirming that he has met his ineffable truth. In a more Humboldtian approach, the title later became Mountain Forms. This oil on canvas 152 x 178 cm is estimated beyond CAD 3M for sale by Heffel in Toronto on November 23, lot 118 subject of a dedicated press release.
The artist continues his philosophical quest and his hiking. Mountain and glacier, oil on canvas 74 x 89 cm painted in 1930, was sold for CAD 4.6 million including premium by Heffel on 26 November 2015 over a lower estimate of CAD 1M.
He executes drawings that he will transfer into increasingly large oil paintings while eliminating any unnecessary detail, resulting in a symphony in blue and white. The white of snow and ice is for this theosopher an oracle of purity in communion with the blue sky.
1926 marks the accession to the maturity for this artist in his simplifying illumination. A small oil sketch 30 x 38 cm on board preparing his great composition of the Old Stump, Lake Superior, was sold for CAD 3.5 million including premium by Heffel on November 26, 2009.
In the same year the hiker is dazzled by the perfect triangle of Mount Ishbel between Banff and Lake Louise. He has found his Sphinx. Once isolated from the neighboring mountains, Ishbel displays a towering symmetry. The bottom-up view leads the eyes to the smooth colors of wood and rock before reaching the sparkling summit.
Harris named this view Mountain Form without locating it, so confirming that he has met his ineffable truth. In a more Humboldtian approach, the title later became Mountain Forms. This oil on canvas 152 x 178 cm is estimated beyond CAD 3M for sale by Heffel in Toronto on November 23, lot 118 subject of a dedicated press release.
The artist continues his philosophical quest and his hiking. Mountain and glacier, oil on canvas 74 x 89 cm painted in 1930, was sold for CAD 4.6 million including premium by Heffel on 26 November 2015 over a lower estimate of CAD 1M.
1926 Hilltop by Parrish
2022 SOLD for $ 6.7M by Christie's
Away from the artistic trends, Maxfield Parrish is now recognized as the pioneer of fantastic art. Professional illustrator of children's books, prolific author of posters and calendars, he uses a sharp line and bright colors to evoke fairy themes.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork is carefully composed according to the Golden ratio. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two big endless columns, two maidens wake up. One of them, recumbent, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is nude. The mountain is a view over the upper Connecticut river near the artist's home.
The original picture was prepared with a glazing technique that provided a luminous surface. The paint had been applied from the tube in multiple layers over a white ground.
This oil on board 67 x 114 cm was sold for $ 7.6M by Christie's on May 25, 2006. Coming back in the same auction house on May 20, 2010 on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker, it was sold for $ 5.2M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist desired to reiterate the unprecedented success of his delightful Daybreak of 1922. Hilltop, conceived in 1926 in a similar technique and theme, is another staging of two young women in a quiet intimacy in a paradisiac landscape.
In the golden light of a late afternoon, the innocent girls take a rest in a contemplation of nature in the variegated shadows of a big oak. The models were the daughters of a friend. In the opposite of the Sapphic daybreak, there is no nudity. A special care was brought to the harmonic balance of the composition.
This oil on panel 91 x 56 cm painted and copyrighted in 1926 was sold for $ 6.7M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 47.
Hilltop was edited as an image in three sizes.
Daybreak, executed in 1922, is his biggest hit, a favorite image of Americans to whom it provides an idea of paradise.
The artwork is carefully composed according to the Golden ratio. In the background, the light of dawn bathes a landscape of mountains. In the foreground, between two big endless columns, two maidens wake up. One of them, recumbent, is dressed in a light coat like the antique Greeks. The other is standing, and leans over her friend. She is nude. The mountain is a view over the upper Connecticut river near the artist's home.
The original picture was prepared with a glazing technique that provided a luminous surface. The paint had been applied from the tube in multiple layers over a white ground.
This oil on board 67 x 114 cm was sold for $ 7.6M by Christie's on May 25, 2006. Coming back in the same auction house on May 20, 2010 on occasion (as gossiped) of the marital problems of a filmmaker, it was sold for $ 5.2M. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The artist desired to reiterate the unprecedented success of his delightful Daybreak of 1922. Hilltop, conceived in 1926 in a similar technique and theme, is another staging of two young women in a quiet intimacy in a paradisiac landscape.
In the golden light of a late afternoon, the innocent girls take a rest in a contemplation of nature in the variegated shadows of a big oak. The models were the daughters of a friend. In the opposite of the Sapphic daybreak, there is no nudity. A special care was brought to the harmonic balance of the composition.
This oil on panel 91 x 56 cm painted and copyrighted in 1926 was sold for $ 6.7M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 47.
Hilltop was edited as an image in three sizes.
1926 The Artist who did not smile
2021 SOLD for £ 4.3M including premium
An artist does not only create and disclose his conception of the world, he also seeks his place in it. From 1882 to 1943 Edvard Munch painted self-portraits on which he is always surly, even circa 1940 when eating a head of cod.
In 1926 he has become famous. For ten years, in Ekely near Oslo, he cultivates his garden as Monet did in Giverny. At 63, eighteen years after his great breakdown and seven years after the Spanish flu, his health problems have disappeared.
On March 25 in London, Sotheby's sells a self-portrait with a palette, oil on canvas 90 x 68 cm painted in 1926, lot 114 estimated £ 4.5M.
In this image, the weather is fine and the open shirt collar shows a certain relaxation. The attitude, however, is particularly repulsive. He does not seek to communicate but to identify where he is in his own life cycle. The palette is the symbol of his main activity, the only one that can accompany his mystical questioning.
In 1926 he has become famous. For ten years, in Ekely near Oslo, he cultivates his garden as Monet did in Giverny. At 63, eighteen years after his great breakdown and seven years after the Spanish flu, his health problems have disappeared.
On March 25 in London, Sotheby's sells a self-portrait with a palette, oil on canvas 90 x 68 cm painted in 1926, lot 114 estimated £ 4.5M.
In this image, the weather is fine and the open shirt collar shows a certain relaxation. The attitude, however, is particularly repulsive. He does not seek to communicate but to identify where he is in his own life cycle. The palette is the symbol of his main activity, the only one that can accompany his mystical questioning.
#AuctionUpdate The first formal self-portrait by #EdvardMunch to come to the market in 15 years sells for £4.3 million in its auction debut. pic.twitter.com/HjwD1oAFX1
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) March 25, 2021
1926 Art, Science and Eiffel Tower
2012 SOLD 3.7 M£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
In 1889, Robert Delaunay, a 4 years old boy, visits with his parents the Champ de Mars, where the Exposition Universelle is held. The novelty of this event is the 300-meter tower, completed just in time by Eiffel and his team.
The new monument is the symbol of the exhibition, but not yet the symbol of Paris because its intrusion into the sky of the city is shocking the traditionalists. To prevent it from being dismantled, his supporters use it for scientific applications: the tower will accompany step by step the prodigious development of the telecommunications.
Robert is overwhelmed. This lover of modernism is passionate about the tower while conducting his research on the role of color in abstract art.
In 1926, the Eiffel Tower reaches its artistic apotheosis in the paintings of Robert. Viewed from over or from bottom, whole or truncated, it imposes its elegant curves in an atmosphere close to Surrealism.
The painting for sale by Christie's in London on February 7, estimated £ 1.5 million, is nearly as monumental as its model: 2 meters high. The monument, in bright colors, is standing on a patchwork of colored squares.
POST SALE COMMENT
This theme is outstanding in the art of Robert Delaunay. It deserved an excellent result: £ 3.7 million including premium.
In 1889, Robert Delaunay, a 4 years old boy, visits with his parents the Champ de Mars, where the Exposition Universelle is held. The novelty of this event is the 300-meter tower, completed just in time by Eiffel and his team.
The new monument is the symbol of the exhibition, but not yet the symbol of Paris because its intrusion into the sky of the city is shocking the traditionalists. To prevent it from being dismantled, his supporters use it for scientific applications: the tower will accompany step by step the prodigious development of the telecommunications.
Robert is overwhelmed. This lover of modernism is passionate about the tower while conducting his research on the role of color in abstract art.
In 1926, the Eiffel Tower reaches its artistic apotheosis in the paintings of Robert. Viewed from over or from bottom, whole or truncated, it imposes its elegant curves in an atmosphere close to Surrealism.
The painting for sale by Christie's in London on February 7, estimated £ 1.5 million, is nearly as monumental as its model: 2 meters high. The monument, in bright colors, is standing on a patchwork of colored squares.
POST SALE COMMENT
This theme is outstanding in the art of Robert Delaunay. It deserved an excellent result: £ 3.7 million including premium.
1926 Autumn Leaf with White Flower by O'Keeffe
2021 SOLD for $ 4.95M by Christie's
Georgia O'Keeffe had an unprecedented vision of the art of painting. She was able to display figurative themes in a spectacular symmetry with contrasts of rare colors.
Entered into the circle of the avant-garde New York photographers, she married Stieglitz in 1924. She moved to the brand new tallest residential building in New York City, while keeping in touch with nature in long walks in the hills near Lake George in upstate New York where her husband had an estate.
1926 was a year of great creativity, including her first cityscapes. She continued her series of petunia flowers, started two years earlier, inspired by the in depth photographic close up vision.
An oil on canvas 51 x 23 cm painted in 1926 is another step forward in her research of forms. This piece titled Autumn leaf with white flower stages a tobacco flower centered on its full frontal leaf, in a bold departure to a strict botanical combination.
Some slight departure in the symmetry remind the reality of nature, similarly as the dissymmetry in her views of New York skyscrapers. The contrast is striking between the bright star-shaped flower over the dark leaf and the soft background. The seasonal change is featured through the rare mauve and moss green hues which embellish that fallen leaf.
O'Keeffe enjoyed her own researches. She had temporarily reacquired this painting in 1950.
It was sold for $ 4.95M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 18, 2021, lot 7.
Entered into the circle of the avant-garde New York photographers, she married Stieglitz in 1924. She moved to the brand new tallest residential building in New York City, while keeping in touch with nature in long walks in the hills near Lake George in upstate New York where her husband had an estate.
1926 was a year of great creativity, including her first cityscapes. She continued her series of petunia flowers, started two years earlier, inspired by the in depth photographic close up vision.
An oil on canvas 51 x 23 cm painted in 1926 is another step forward in her research of forms. This piece titled Autumn leaf with white flower stages a tobacco flower centered on its full frontal leaf, in a bold departure to a strict botanical combination.
Some slight departure in the symmetry remind the reality of nature, similarly as the dissymmetry in her views of New York skyscrapers. The contrast is striking between the bright star-shaped flower over the dark leaf and the soft background. The seasonal change is featured through the rare mauve and moss green hues which embellish that fallen leaf.
O'Keeffe enjoyed her own researches. She had temporarily reacquired this painting in 1950.
It was sold for $ 4.95M from a lower estimate of $ 3M by Christie's on May 18, 2021, lot 7.
